Welcome to Gaia! ::

It had only been a couple of days since they had last set foot near this tent, but to West it seemed like years. He was no closer to coming up with a plan to rid Levi of her mark—himself too, of course, although the ghoul came first if there was a choice between them—but he was determined, and that was going to have to be enough. He would bow and grovel, maybe even beg a little, but he had silently sworn there would be no flipping out. Not this time. His arm was healing nicely, at least as nicely as it could considering the brief amount of time it had to get started, and he wasn't even wearing a bandage today, trusting the rolled up sleeve of his shirt to hide the dark swirl and scabby skin from curious eyes.

He was growing more anxious by the day, the feeling surprisingly less and less connected to Medea's mark the stronger it became. If he was ever freed from his promise to the clans, he was going to do... something. What that something was remained just beyond his thoughts, but West knew he had to at least try to make things better. He was no activist, but it was hard to continue being selfish when the world was turning to s**t. Trying was all he could do.

This time, he didn't hesitate. As the demon made his way through the Lost Clans' territory, he only paused for a moment before he pushed the tent flap aside and looked back at Levi, holding it open for the ghoul to venture through first. He could only imagine that Medea would find her a far less objectionable sight than he was.

There was something noticeably wrong about the inside of the tent.

The way the ground seemed to dip, sway uncontrollably beneath them, one second the simple grass, the next a bubbling volcanic pit, hot lava spewing upwards, pockets of ash, stifling heat - and then the chill howl of ice-sharp winds blowing past the two.

In the center was indeed the head priestess, covered entirely with her long crimson cloak, to where even her face was obscured, simply a hollow black void. She didn't move, though the pyre in front of her flickered with a hundred distorted colours, shifting as the ground, earth, everything around them dipped and churned and-

- The sound of hollow clacks, shrill voices rising up from a blind chasm below, skeletal phantom arms reaching up towards them -

- The strike of metal as forces clashed within each other in a bloodstained battlefield-

- The sound of a low voice, murmuring and still before it too warped, changed-

- The Head priestess did not move not make any motion to acknowledge them, huddled over, staring into the fire.

Levi's nose wrinkled when the change from scalding hot moved to icy cold, bringing a hand up to shield her face when the wind blew. There was a moment's worry that her body would shatter like glass from the sudden change before Levi's sense kicked in- another illusion?

But it felt real. Though, then again, they always did.

Uneasy about the prospect of being put under another trance, Levi's tail immediately rose and she herself crouched, trying to dig her claws into the ground or leap away if she found herself being dropped into a pool of lava. Levi had gone into a defensive mode, finding it difficult to keep calm until the wrath demon took a notable step closer to her. The overlapping of voices and sounds filled her ears and Levi gritted her teeth, trying to block them out. Through the slits of her eyelids, the ghoul noticed the moving forms of skeletal arms reaching out. In surprise, she hissed at them in warning regardless of knowing they weren't really real... right?

When the ghoul realized this, she turned to West again, making sure he was all in one piece before focusing on the priestess herself. West had decided it best to close his eyes and not see anything at all. Levi found herself not wanting to take her eyes off the target. What was she doing with the multicolored flame? Why all the varying elements?

He cracked open his eyes again when he heard a voice coming from Medea, coming from everywhere. The world inside the tent had ceased its constant shifts, at least for a moment, and West took the opportunity to stand straight as the fog gathered, his arms clasping behind his back instead of splaying slightly to either side in an effort to control his balance.

The boil listened with greater intensity, straining to comprehend the sights and sounds of thirty seconds ago. He knew they had been important. He knew he had been asked a question.


He and Levi had spoken of offering a trade, of doing something for this priestess or her horsemen that would be deemed respectful and equal to what she claimed was owed. They weren't sure what their end of the trade would entail, but West's measure of "equal" in this instance might have been a bit higher than his ghoulfriend's. Yes, he was willing to do whatever it took. Mostly.


It had only been a couple of days since the first time he had ever actually thought about where his life was headed. All he knew for sure was that he wanted Levi there. He couldn't mourn a future he had barely thought of, right?

"Yes, priestess," West said, his voice unwavering. "Just, um, don't kill us or mark us again maybe? Please?"

He didn't want to suggest she do anything after the way their first visit to this tent had gone, but it seemed a bit counterproductive to agree to the possibility of either of them walking out of here re-marked or not walking out of here at all.

Other than those foolishly minor stipulations, it seemed he was ready for anything.

"A favour paid in favours," For a second, the Head Priestess's figure seemed to fade, blur into the smoke-

- And the next she stood examining Levi as if time itself had come to a stop for a brief few seconds. "It is a favour and thus requires specific, exact instructions. The first favour you already owe is the opportunity to request and the second your so-called freedom from alliances. Thus the two of you owe me two favours: the first I shall elaborate now, with expectations that if all goes well, you will still pay the second."

She turned sharply, bracelets jangling. "These days I find my Trances clouded, a strange force weighs over us..." It seemed more as if the Head Priestess was talking to herself, muttering strange words here and there. With a rather quick snap, she focused her gaze back on the two. "But you are of this world, a stable element still connected to me, for the time being you will do. I will need you two to follow a path, one I cannot follow myself, one that is unwelcome to one such as I. Bring me back a single artifact, proof of your Trance, your journey. Find it, and tell me its true name, the name hidden even to me."

A small, wistful sigh. "If you tell anyone else of this favour, our conditions will be broken, the promise unfulfilled. I require not only your vow of silence but your promise to continue. If you should fetch the name, the missing fragment of artifact from my Trance, then consider half your debt fully paid."

What just... It took the tatzel a glance at her sides, trying to verify nothing had frozen over. The priestess stood staring at her for what seemed like an unusual amount of time. For a moment it was as though she and Medea were alone there, nothing around but the two of them... reflecting through the lenses of one anothers eyes. It was both startling and unsettling; could Medea tell she had worries?

Was there something else in her mind?... What do you what from me? The helplessness could be seen somewhere in the depths of the ghoul's eyes, but Levi'd spent time placing barriers around that to ensure she would not fall victim to the same outcomes of the past. To stay hard was to stay strong, even if there were any outward betrayals of her own body and voice projecting otherwise.

Levi's expression was rather stern with her brow remaining set in a mild scowl usually better known on her accomplice, listening with the best of understanding to what Medea was trying to say. It all sounded pretty complicated. Following the jingling sound of the priestess' movements, her thoughts were of this half payment business, concluding the same thing as the wrath demon; better half than nothing.

So what'cher sayin' is we gotta prove we can do what'cha want us ta'do by doin' somethin' ta'prove it first? It made sense to her this way. N' this is somethin' from... tha'past? No, not all trances were of the past, but it seemed like that was what the priestess was implying. She needs something she herself can't get. Admittedly, it was a bit of a relief knowing that even with all that was encircling them, conjured by the figure they were making deals with, she too had limitations that required their help to succeed in accomplishing.

n' we're bringin' back some sorta name of'it... It would be hard not to know what it was they were looking for, surely there was some bit of information they were missing...

... I can do it. They could do it. Yew got ma'word, Ma'am. The honorific was an emphasis of her word being taken very seriously, if the tatzel said she was keeping her silence, she dang well meant it.

Her expression would have weirded him out had it spread across anyone else's face while he had been conversing with them, but he tried to ignore that feeling as it came over him now. This was Medea, and the more time he spent in her presence, the more he realized just how unhinged she was. That was really saying something, considering some of the people he had known during his brief existence.

At least the world around them had stilled completely now, a lone portal all that remained of the horsewoman's trance. West listened to her instructions with a sharp-eyed frown, his expression as clear now as it had been muddled minutes before.

Hold on to the thread. He glanced at the spot where the mark was burned under his shirt, then finally looked at Levi again. He'd been shown what life might have been like had he ruled a pack of otherwise helpless Halloween creatures. He had experienced one of the truest forms of death, his body warped into an unthinking weapon. Neither false reality had lulled him in the end. He would hold this thread tightly between his fingers until his hands fell off, until his toes and teeth and tail no longer followed his commands.

West's frown faded, his lips eventually turning up slightly at their corners. Without another word, he grabbed the red strand and stepped into the musty darkness.

8/40

His hasty steps slowed almost as quickly as his smile faded once West found himself fully engulfed in blackness. The air around him remained silent just long enough for the faintest panicky flutter to start in his chest. The foggy place Red had inadvertently sent him to almost a year ago hadn't been silent at all, but the absence of another person to confirm his existence still sparked memories he didn't want to revisit.

"Levi!"

As the whispers began to reach him, the boil took a step toward them, his hand almost loosening from where it gripped the thread. "What? No. I, um, I've got somewhere t'be." He hardly sounded convincing at all. West took another step, making a short, worried sort of whining noise when the red yarn really did almost slip out of his fingers. What was the harm in staying here for a while? But... he needed this thread for... something. He couldn't let go just yet. Maybe they'd come to him.

"Levi?"